Automobile running-board footlight



mmf. m, w24. www? J. R. AYOTTE AUTOMOBILE RUNNING BOARD FOOTLIGHT Filed Oct. ll, 1923 l which .Iosnrn It I aterra, or cHIcnGo, ILLINOIS, Assienoaro LIBERTY rRoDUcrs CORPORATION 0F ILLINOIS.

AUTUIIOBILE RUNNING-BOARD IOOTIJIGHT.

Application filed October 11, 1923. Serial No. 667,852.

To all 'whom t may concern."

lBe it lmown that I, JOSEPH REN'AYo'rrE, acitizen of the Dominion of Canada (who have applied for citizenship in the United States and `resident of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Automobile Running-Board Footlights, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to electric lights for l automobiles, and more particularly to those are used as footlights for the running board, in some convenient position adjacent thereto, so that a` person in'entering the automobile at night can see where to step, and so that the light will be directed outward from the aide of the car for the benefit of'drivers in other automobiles.

Generally stated, the object of the invention is Ito provide an improved construction and arrangement whereby the light forms a part of the kick-plate on the skirt of the automobile chassis, so that the light is a part of the element or member or means to be actually engaged by the foot, thus ensuring more satisfactory results than heretofore,

and whereby the device has the double function o'f being a kick-plate and a lamp, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

To these and other useful ends the inven-A tion consists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawings in whichlEi re 1 is a side elevation of an atomobi e equipped with runnin board octlightsembodying the p rincip es of the invention. s t

Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical section on line 2-2 in Figure l.

As thus illustrated, the invention comprises what is ordinarily known as a kickplate 11 secured to the skirt 12 of the chassis of the car, body, in such position that thektoe of the person entering the car will kick the'plate,

which latter may be faced with rubber orf other materiah; This kick-plate has` a rear enlargement 14C` like l the ment or body and contains an ,electric lamp bulb, similar directly below the door 13 of the tapered enlarge# portion 4 previously described,"

to the one shown front plate or lens l5 to cover the lamp. The enlargement 14, as shown in Fig. 2, ex-4 tends through the skirt 12 of the car. Thus in this case, as previously stated, the lamp is actually in or on 'and forms a part of the means to be actually engaged by the foot of the person entering theI car, and it is the location of the lamp itself, and not merely the light therefrom, which shows the location of the thing to be engaged by the foot, and which shows where the person must step to enter the car.

The Vinvention is not limited to the exact construction shown and described, of course, for it is obvious that an electric'lamp bulb can be made a part of any suitable means for engaging the foot of the person entering the car, and can be combined therewith in any suitable or desired manner, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

It will be seen that the tapered hollow portion in which the electric bulb is enclosed, extends inwardly, out of the way, so that the top of the running board is left clear and free .from obstruction by the attachment. Thus the kick-plate, which is a deviceto be actually engaged by the foot, carries a lamp, and the lamp is entirely out of the way, and is in such position that the` top of the running boardis left free and clear from obl' struction by the lamp and by the means for in Figure 2, and has a glass 'III "III

secured to the side of the vehicle, against the skirt` of thevehicle immediately above said step, and immediately below the entrance to the car or vehicle, and an electric lamp carriedvby said kick-plate, so that the kickplate and lamp form a unitary attachment for the vehicle.

2. A structureas specified in claim 1, said enlargekick-plate having a'lrear hollow ment extending through the skirt of the car to enclose the electrlc lamp and having means tocover the front of the lamp.

3. A 'structure as specified in claim l, said I. it ttt kick-plate having a vhollow integral portion an electric lamp carried by said plate and forming a chamber for the electric lamp. forming therewith a unitary attachment to 4. A plate :for an automobile or motor Vebe applied to the vehicle in position to be 10 hicle, attachable thereto, being adapted and engaged by the foot on the running board or 5 designed to be attached at the side of the car step in entering the car.

to receive the impactpof the foot on the running board or step in entering the car, and JOSEPH REN AYOTTE. 

